Centralised Database: Because ab-initio is a single, centralised database, there is zero dependence on third-party report writers, data-warehouses or business intelligence tools needed to provide these insights.

Accessible from multiple devices: These real-time views and dashboards are browser based and can be accessed from any web-enabled devices including mobiles, tablets and desktops.

Filters: Reports can be filtered to any product type, store, store type etc.

Errors: ab-initio detects any negative figures or unfamiliar records and highlights these in red. This enables you to make decisions quickly and to avoid such errors.

Exporting: All reports can be easily exported to CSV or Excel file for further manipulation.

Historical Reports: Historical reports can be viewed specific to a certain day/week/month, store type and location of store.

What you can see, you can control

ab-initio’s extensive insight and analytics reports enable retailers to study and understand their customer’s behaviour. Live View provides retailers with real-time data on promotions, loyalty and basket building, which can enable retailers to act quickly to satisfy their customers. This results in deeper and longer-lasting relationships between the retailer and consumer.

Find out more about customer analytics

The main functions of this module are:

Search for store stock: The search for store stock function enables customers to search for stock in the store nearest to them. If the product they are seeking is not available in the requested store, ab-initio suggests an alternative store for the customer.

Customer Accounts: Customer accounts are integrated within this capability as ab-initio recognises customer names and loyalty points. This information is automatically updated in real-time, within moments of any purchase, enabling customers to have a full view of their transaction history including receipts and number of loyalty points.

Automatic Prompters: Staff members are prompted when a click and collect order has been submitted, requesting them to print a ticket with the order details, source the product, and accept or reject the order from the customer.

SMS/E-mail: Once a click and collect order is accepted in the store, the customers are sent a confirmation SMS or e-mail containing their order progress.

Order anywhere, return in store: Customers can order their desired products online, and choose to pick them up in the store of their choice.

Collect and pay on mobile in store: Customers can pay online when ordering their products, or they can pay when they arrive to the store to collect their products.

ab-initio’s extensive insight and analytics reports enable retailers to study and understand their entire stores operations. LiveView provides them with the ability to monitor all stores on one screen, with operational figures being updated every second.

Find out more about Operations Analytics

The types of metrics that can be analysed within ab-initio are:

Sales performance: Sales performance of all channels can be monitored in real-time.

Availability: The system enables you to see what is available and where at any time.

Budget tracking: Budget targets can be viewed across all stores, categories and individual products.

Till controls: ab-initio provides clear visibility of all the store discounts, price overrides, markdowns and voids so retailers can observe where exceptions are happening at any given time.

Age-checking issues: Where products are age sensitive, ab-initio delivers alerts to question a purchase and to get the appropriate authorisation.

‘Sweet-hearting’ alerting: Retailers can keep track of any suspicious activity happening within the stores own team.

Waste performance: ab-initio provides the data where retailers can identify where waste occurs, the product being wasted and the cost of this waste to the business so that management can take the appropriate action.

Ab-initio’s financial reports provide retailers with full visibility of their entire business, with figures updating in true real-time.

Find out more about finance

The types of finance metrics that can be analysed within ab-initio are:

Margin Analysis: By using this tool, retailers can manage costs and expenses in their organisation so that they can understand the best ways of generating profits.

Year on Year comparisons: Retailers can compare results from one time period to another.